Grounding and orienting

When we're stressed or triggered, our attention can get pulled into painful memories, racing thoughts, or away from the present altogether.

Grounding works by deliberately focusing on simple, concrete information that's happening right now, such as what you can see, hear or touch. This gives your mind something steady to hold onto, and can help remind your body that you're here, in this moment, and that the moment can be managed.

Orienting works in a similar way. Slowly taking in your surroundings, such as the light, the colours and the shape of the room, can help your body register where you are.

These explanations are widely used in clinical practice, but they haven't been tested closely in research.

Grounding is widely taught, but there is very little research on it as a stand-alone practice. It is usually studied as one part of a larger treatment, which makes it hard to know how much grounding itself contributes.

• Seeking Safety is a structured therapy for people living with both PTSD and substance use. One of its 25 topics is "Detaching from Emotional Pain (Grounding)". A 2023 review of seven randomised trials found Seeking Safety had medium to large effects on PTSD symptoms and small to medium effects on substance use. Because grounding is only one part of the program, these results can't tell us how much it helps on its own.
• A 2016 critical analysis by a group of trauma researchers looked at treatment guidelines for complex PTSD, which often recommend a "stabilisation" phase focused on self-regulation skills before trauma-focused therapy. The authors found that the research supporting the need for this phase was methodologically limited. Several of the authors are leading researchers in trauma-focused therapies such as EMDR and Cognitive Processing Therapy.

In short, grounding is a low-cost, low-risk skill that many clinicians teach, but its effects haven't been well measured on their own.